From emotional scars to forgiveness: Four must-read stories on Zephany Nurse

Miché Solomon is the 22-year old woman the world knew as Zephany Nurse. Her identity was revealed for the first time after she asked for a court order protecting it to be lifted. Solomon has released a book about learning, at the age of 17, that the couple which raised her were not her biological parents.

Here are four must-read stories.

Battling to trust

Women who helped Solomon on her journey of discovery spoke to author Joanne Jowell, who wrote about the difficulties Solomon had to overcome.

Childline founder and Solomon's therapist Joan van Niekerk said until Solomon starts getting her life in order she will always be vulnerable.

She said this regarding her two unplanned pregnancies, saying Solomon may be trying to compensate for love and trust through her children. 

“I felt nothing when I met my parents for the first time”

In a book extract published in the Sunday Times, Solomon tells of the first time she met her biological parents, Morne and Celeste Nurse. “Celeste and Morne walked into the room, they cried when they saw me, and hugged me. I hugged back but I felt nothing, absolutely nothing.”

She said she was put off by the brokenness of her parents. When she met them at 17 years old, they had divorced, but told her otherwise.

When they asked her who she'd choose to live with, she said she was clear that she needed the stability she always had growing up, something she said they could not give her. 

Comparing her two fathers

Solomon told Cape Talk she still falls into the trap of comparing her fathers, but is coming to accept that the men are not the same.

“In some situations I just wish he could have controlled, handled situations the way Michael would, more sensitively, with some understanding, not just roughly.”

An ode to her mothers

The book is dedicated to her mothers, Celeste Nurse and Lavona Simone. In a message to her biological parents, Solomon said she's sorry they don't have the relationship they should have had, adding that she hopes they will, at some point, accept her for who she is.